1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer systems, in particular, computer systems that utilize direct manipulated graphical user interfaces and display windows. More specifically, the present invention relates to managing large display windows of interrelated programs on these computer systems.
2. Background
Today, many computer systems utilize one of a variety of direct manipulation graphical user interfaces in which many previously coded programming commands are replaced by graphic images, or icons, on a computer display. These graphic images, or icons, symbolically represent a variety of objects or operations the computer system will execute if the graphic images, or icons, are chosen. A user interacts with the computer by choosing and manipulating these graphic images, or icons.
Additionally, many graphical user interfaces utilize multiple display windows displayed on the computer display for the applications to convey information to a user. The information is presented in a combination of text and graphics in these display windows. A display window may be rectangular or non-rectangular in shape, such as polygonal or curved. A display window may have one or more areas of the display window that are absent, i.e., hollowed areas, whereby a user can see through the display window. The display windows may occupy different areas of the display screen, i.e. disjointed, or "stacked" on top of each other, i.e. intersecting. The "top" display window is fully visible. Other display windows may be visible, partially visible, or invisible depending on their intersection with the "top" display window, and each other.
A user is permitted to operate on and manipulate the display window contents, and the display window itself, as if the image constituted an actual object. The user may delete information from a display window, move data from one display window to another, and generally operate on the display window as if an actual file in an office is being used. Often, the source display window of an operation has to be the "top" display window thereby ensuring that the display window of current interest is fully visible and accessible for interaction.
For further description of graphical user interfaces, see, D. Robson, "Object Oriented Software System", BYTE, August 1981, p. 74, Vol. 6, No. 8; and L. Tesler, "The Small Talk Environment", BYTE, August 1981, p. 90, Vol. 6, No. 8. See also, U.S. Pat. No. Re. 32,632, reissued Mar. 29, 1988, and assigned to Apple Computer, Inc.; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/323,774, filed Mar. 15, 1989 and its corresponding Division and Continuation Applications, Ser. Nos. 07/458,596 and 07/619,665, filed Dec. 26, 1989 and Nov. 28, 1990 respectively, and assigned to the assignee of the subject application, Sun Microsystems, Inc; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/746,328, filed Aug. 15, 1991, also assigned to the assignee of the subject application.
For further description of specific implementations of graphical user interfaces, for example, OPEN WINDOWS, by Sun Microsystems, Inc., or others by manufacturers such as International Business Machines, and Apple Computer, Inc., the reader is directed to technical literature provided by these companies.
With current display window organizations, problems can arise when a user needs to work on two interrelated applications at the same time. If the display windows representing the applications are small, then the user can sometimes place them side and side on the display screen. More often however, the display windows are so large that there is not enough room for them on the display screen without overlapping. The user who is forced to work like this spends a lot of time "popping" windows back and forth. Additionally, the relationship is often not represented to the user, even though there are times that it is beneficial for the user to be aware of the relationship between the two applications.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a computer controlled display system and a method to manage display windows of interrelated applications on the display system in a manner that improves the usability of the interrelated applications. In particular, it is desirable for the method to accommodate large display windows used by the interrelated applications. It is also desirable for the method to represent the relationship to the user. As will be disclosed, the present invention provides a computer controlled display system and a method incorporated on the display system for managing display windows of interrelated applications that achieves the desired results.